Marks on Sand
by NeonAnything
Summary: "I think I'm over Sasuke," the pink haired girl says, her eyes train at the distant glimmer of the deep blue waves before her. A revelation of sorts, and sand markings aren't always what they seem. Set during the 10th Shippuuden Beach Opening. Pairing: KakaSaku


Marks on Sand

A/N: _This story in un-beta'd. _

I might have bent the rules a bit, because I weaved in stories in between the intro up to the supposed "after". I also played off of the markings she made on the sand at the very last part. I think the Japanese translation explains it as a heart with Sakura and Sasuke in it, with Sasuke's name crossed out. Welp, let's just say—-things aren't what they seem!

* * *

"I think I'm over Sasuke.." Sakura says plainly, in between mouthful bites of her skewers. Her eyes, shaded by her white brimmed hat, stare at the distant glimmer of the deep blue waves before her. She continues to chew her food absent-mindedly, lost in thought. It's a wistful and sort of happy realization, made more prophetic by the presence of the beautiful ocean-front and the glowing hot sun.

Naturally, Ino had to ruin it.

"If you have to say _you're over him_, forehead, then clearly you're not." The blonde points out and punctuates with an eye roll. Ino visibly catches herself after the fact, much to Sakura's amusement and attempts to sweeten her own teasing by handing Sakura an ice-cold can of pop. They already know each other far too well, and have always seem to fall back into this stereotypical girl-talk-slash-banter. The two kunoichis hardly fought about things anymore, but old habits die hard — and are far too fun to completely outgrow.

Especially when they're out here— sitting under the most perfect cloudless sky, basking in their swimsuits with front row seats to endless folds of pure blue and white.

"Where did Kakashi-sensei go?" Ino turns around behind them, her neck craning to see a now empty folding chair where the silver-haired man had been. The umbrella that he _always _took shade under during this whole trip, seem to be missing now too.

"I dunno…" The pink haired girl says, without looking back. Sakura's jade-eyes continue to fixate on the dancing light cast by the distant ocean. The sound of the rolling and clashing of waves almost lulling her to sleep. "I'm gonna go for a walk!"

"Alright." Ino nonchalantly waves her off, as she cleans up their little picnic, unperturbed by the pink-haired girl's sudden departure.

Sakura continues a path down closer where the ocean meets to crash on wet sand, leaving a shallow plane of water in its wake. The blissful feeling of the fresh water cooling her feet sends a spritely surge of energy down her very bones.

This is truly paradise, she thinks to herself. Tsunade (with some good nudging from Shizune) decided to send everyone here on a vacation, away from the "daily grind". Sakura embraced it as a glorious escape!

There was something so freeing in this place - she can't help but have an extra bounce to her steps. It must be this strikingly beautiful place, surely.

Out of sheer amusement, she even tries to strain and think of some of her own negative thoughts. Curious enough, they all appear to amount to nothing but bland realities that had no stake on her own feelings.

Sasuke. _Sasuke. Sasssuu-keh._ If you say it enough times, she finds out, starts to sound mundanely bizarre. Like some type of fermented food no one would ever try.

This place really does wonders to your mental clarity. She's sure of it.

She takes a last swig of the cold drink she was still holding, when a strong gust of wind knocks off the hat on her head. Sakura finishes her last gulp anyway, not minding where the hat flew to. It didn't fly very far, she finds out, and seem to be caught on one of the spokes of someone's poorly pitched umbrella.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you— I'm just here to grab my hat." She walks over the umbrella, which was obscuring its sunbathing owner.

"Yo!" Says a familiar voice from behind it. The sunbathing person looks over his shoulder, revealing a head of silver-hair peaking through the plastic shade. He wasn't really sunbathing either, seeing as how he purposefully had his back towards the scorching sunlight, making a feeble and ineffective attempt at having the umbrella block whichever rays come his way.

_This is the beach! Sunrays are practically reflecting everywhere!_ Sakura meant to voice out loud, if she didn't feel very_ timid _all of a suddden, at this semi-unexpected encounter.

She's been feeling "timid" around her silver-haired sensei all the freaking time lately, she notes with irritation. And even more so now, without his trademark mask on. Which was all very ironic, seeing as the rest of team 7 spent all these years trying to unmask and/or speculate on the great masked copy nin.

Naruto and the rest of the chuunins had a field day today when Kakashi finally showed up with nothing but his board shorts on—maskless face in plain sight. But Sakura couldn't even manage to look at him for more than a few seconds. It's ridiculous.

She'd have to make sense of this "confusion" eventually.

For the meantime, there's _this. _The sight of her silver-haired sensei, with his back to the sun, on his stomach with a book on hand. The elated energy that was coursing through her veins earlier, suddenly finds a peaceful center and is thrumming calmly at the base of her heart—no,_chest._

"Oh, hi sensei! What are ya reading over there?" She asks cheerfully, her clumsy attempt at small talk.

_What are you reading?_ Really, Sakura?

It was too late for mental chastising as the silver-haired nin looked to be visibly puzzled by it as well, and a little suspicious to be asked the most absurd question in the whole of Konoha.

Deciding that she was looking more foolish by the second, she does what every well-trained kunoichi would do in a state of distress, which was —

To dive right in, head-first. To Look "fear" straight in the eye. To grab the bull by —- _Oh for heavens sake! _Sakura takes one big stride, boldly and unceremoniously plops herself right next to the silver haired nin. She hadn't meant to "plop" in so close, but here she was. It would be much awkward to inch away now, right?

If the copy-nin is _bothered_ by their closeness, his signature eye crinkle of acknowledgement betrayed nothing. The very visible cheery smile that she can now see with it, however— might take some getting used to.

Kakashi continues on reading his favorite book, as Sakura struggles to find some comfortable purpose to their proximity.

She finally catches a glimpse of Naruto and the rest of the chuunins running around the wide stretch of sand, playing a game she can't quite make out what. They're all acting their age — a luxury they can't always afford, she muses.

"It's really beautiful here, isn't it, sensei?" she asks, but her eyes now seem to find a strong gravitation towards his facial features, away from the supposed beautiful scenic landscape she's talking about . He manages a lazy hum of a reply, his own eyes never leaving his book's pages. It seems he was comfortable enough sans the small talk, so Sakura follows suit and "hangs-out" with him in silence.

Her gaze, however really wants to find permanent residence on the rare sight of his appearance.

Honestly, the eyes are everything.

She's already seen it so many times. The mismatched pair having so much of his own character ingrained in its expressions, lines and folds.

His nose doesn't betray the silhouette she was always used to seeing. It was just as she thought it would be.

The mouth is the only thing all together "new" she starts to regard cautiously. But what's with a mouth that makes this such a huge reveal anyway, when you can almost make out the rest of his face?

His lips and teeth aren't any of the grotesque predictions Naruto seem to enjoy speculating on. Nor is it salaciously seductive, as most of the girls in the village suspected it to be. It is just, as you would say—-a perfectly normal mouth, perfectly perfect in its perfection. Framed only by an equally perfect jaw, and the most perfectly narrow chin.

And she couldn't seem to look away.

Not now, when they are this close, with nothing _distracting_ enough as diversion. His eyes, his nose, together with his mouth and cheekbones, form a face that is really quite new to her, as familiar as most of the "parts" of it are.

Sakura lets her view wander upwards at the sight of his silver hair. She notices how his hair always rests at the exact same direction regardless of where the wind is blowing. It ruffles and bends towards the gentle blowing of ocean-air, much like her pink locks, but always manages to bend back to resume its original direction.

Much like Sasuke's, but with twenty times less gravity. And much prettier. There's a sort of daintiness to it — which is hilarious to say about the great copy-ninja Kakashi. But the way his silver hair shines at the very tip where the sunlight hits it, makes its movement almost celestial.

_Shit._

_Shit. Shit. SHIT._

The realization hits her.

It was something Sakura suspects had _hit her_ a few weeks ago. And unwillingly, as fate would have it, she is now forced to stare at _the realization_ in the face.

"You know, I charge 10 Ryo for oggling. 20 Ryo if you want to touch." He says jokingly, finally taking notice of the oggling pink kunoichi next to him. He follows in yet again with this new eye-crinkle-cheery smile combo that is proving just a tad too much, it bordered on fake.

And yet there was something so genuine about it— Sakura couldn't help but catalog it away, taking in each expression, every fold. As much as she is still allowed to.

Kakashi mistakes her silence for being perturb. "I mean—my hair. 20 Ryo if you want to touch it." He adds in quick. Mostly to ward off any innuendo. Must be a hard effort, from reading that book all day, she muses.

Sakura finally catches on and lets out an appreciative laugh, which to her dismay, sounds too much like a giggle.

They share a brief comfortable silence for a while.

"I think I'm finally over Sasuke" she starts off confidently, echoing her conversation with Ino earlier. Sakura never really talked about "boys" to her sensei the same way Ino comfortably did with Asuma. But Sasuke was not just some "boy" and the pain of betrayal he caused was the "heartbreak" of each member of team 7, not just hers. Her feelings for the young Uchiha will always been regarded with utmost importance by both Naruto and Kakashi.

Her silver-haired companion intently looks up from his reading material and turns his head to her, making their proximity just a little bit more so. He meets her gaze with a slightly raised eyebrow. Much like Ino's skeptical eyeroll, except this one only meant that the copy-nin wants her to elaborate further.

"I don't know _how I know._." she continues on, ignoring the creeping blush on her cheeks, and the flustered feeling of being in such close scrutiny. She occupies herself by letting her fingers draw lazy figures on the sand as she speaks. Her eyes take a nervous wayward glance towards her sides, where their arms and shoulders touch. Suddenly, talking about the amazing powers of a _beautiful beach,_ and its supernatural effects on someone's love life sound very silly to her.

Her fingers are now making loose sandy figures of the letters S and A. Having written it countless of times, almost mechanically, Sakura writes in the next remaining letters to read: Sasuke. What was awhile ago a name reduced to a word devoid of meaning, looked all of a sudden so out of place— it was offensive. Sakura quickly crosses out the name, like it was some form of forbidden marking and writes her own name on the sand instead.

She feels him shift a little right next to her and she glances a little bit sideways to see Kakashi retire his book down. Most probably noticing her sudden trepidation. Maintaining his position on the sand and the same proximity where their shoulders just brush against each other ever so slightly.

He lets out a deep sigh, which always meant he's about to give her a very sound, Kakashi-like advice.

"You shouldn't rush it, Sakura." he offers gently. "Getting over someone takes time, and it's usually not as easy as a glorious epiphany on a _beautiful beach._" The copy nin says with a small chuckle and enough kindness that Sakura couldn't take offense from the very pointed observation. "It's just like learning, only it's actually a lot like _unlearning_. And unlearning something that's ingrained in you is most of the time very painful."

Her eyes remain fixed low on the sand as he spoke, her countenance all of a sudden very silent.

"So painful, that you would think it's the dumbest, most unnatural idea ever. You would have to double over, make mistakes and backtrack so many times until you finally get it right. Until you finally unlearn and shed all of those painful bits."

"But what if…I like someone else." she adds cautiously. "Letting go seems easier that way, doesn't it?"

Kakashi nods, his mismatched eyes studying her finger markings on the sand with curiosity. He leans over sideways, careful not to topple onto her, while closing in on their very little distance. Sakura forces herself to concentrate on _anything_ other than the warm breath that is now fanning the side of her neck. With his right hand, the copy-nin slightly stretches out to add in a marking of his own right where her name was written.

It is a shape of a heart, and Sakura stares wide-eyed at the markings for a long second. She also wonders why her very own heart, is all of a sudden beating so strongly she could feel it's dull thumping in her throat. _Does it mean what I think it means__,_ she wants to ask.

"It means you have to learn to love yourself first." he finally answers for her. Sakura could feel his gaze, mere inches from her own, as she continues to stare down at the sandy markings before her. "It just wouldn't be fair to you and to any person you love, otherwise."

A deflating reply to the heightened anticipation she felt a few seconds ago. And yet she knew it was a very good one. A damn good answer.

He pulls away slowly, from crowding her side, to resume his original place next to her. She takes her time to stifle the early signs of prickling moisture in her eyes, and finally looks up to find the copy-nin giving her one last smile before resuming his reading.

With the little courage she'd summoned, she tentatively rests her head where their shoulders met. Kakashi didn't move an inch, not at all acknowledging the affectionate gesture but seemingly content to just_ let her_. Sakura takes this as cue to angle her head better so it props comfortably right on his frame.

"Thanks sensei," she finally says.

Seeing as there is a road of pain and mistakes in her future, _then __this must be it__ for now_, she muses. She might as well enjoy it.


End file.
